We headed to Belfast on Monday as planned and the trip was an easy one. The bay was as smooth as glass. We did notice a lot of debris in the water, branches and logs, but not as many lobster pots in Belfast Bay. Belfast is at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River and if you continued up that river you would end up in Bangor. It certainly is a change going from a secluded state park to a city. We stayed at the Front Street Shipyard, which works on very large boats. Denise and I watched them haul out an 80-foot boat and they did not even use the largest travel lift they had. We are on a harbor float dock with Seaquill on the other side. Gypsea is a few floats down. I do like floats better than moorings, as we do not swing with the tide when we are on these. Troy also likes these so he can jump off the boat and visit with Seaquill.

Belfast has converted from a gritty backwater in the 1960's to a charming cruising destination that it is today. They have added a great harbor walkway, which goes from the town, right through the shipyard and across a footbridge to the other side of the river. Downtown Belfast has a pleasant mixture of all sorts of shops, upscale artisans and restaurants. The shipyard used to be a sardine cannery and some of the old buildings are still here. We had dinner at a place called "Meanwhile in Belfast" and it had the best Napoleon style pizza I have eaten. How a chef from Italy ended up opening a restaurant in Belfast, Maine I wonder, but glad he did.

We had everyone over for dinner Tuesday evening on Wildflower. Troy has become very sociable with our boating crowd, not quite as shy as he used to be. There is a shop in town called "Eat More Cheese" that I bought the best cheese, meat, bread and Valencia almonds for the party. The shop was featured in a magazine, so I was anxious to try them out and everything I bought there was delicious.

The next day the guys borrowed the courtesy car for a trip over to Hamilton Marine in Searsport, then came back and did some boat maintenance, a never-ending chore.

On Wednesday we headed out of Belfast onto Bucks Harbor, one of the most beautiful and protected spots in Maine. Even though there are a lot of boats here, it is quiet and peaceful. Gypsea is here at Bucks Harbor, but Seaquill has headed back toward Rockland to go home for a stretch. We had dinner on Gypsea and watched a beautiful sunset.

George has been trying to get Troy to go for a dinghy ride with him. Troy will get in the dinghy with no problem, but as soon as the motor starts he wants out. Maybe someday he will do it and make George happy. We had planned on leaving on Saturday and head toward the Mount Desert area, but they are predicting high winds so we decided to stay here another day. They said it was going to rain all morning, but as I sit here writing this, it is quite nice out, a little chilly but no rain in sight. We have found on this trip that the Maine weather forecast changes moment to moment.

We have been trying to watch the British Open, but there is no TV reception here and the Wi-Fi is terrible. I have been forced to watch five seasons of Downton Abbey, again.